Chilean Thrash Metal - An Exploration

I have been championing the thrash metal coming out of Chile for a bit now, so I thought I would go back to it's earliest days and try to trace it's development into the only relevant thrash scene of the 21st Century. I will try to post here as regularly as I can, but I can't guarantee when and I will have to see how it goes.

Massacre - Pissing Into the Mass Grave [Demo] (1986)

Massacre were one of the very first Chilean thrash metal bands, forming in 1982 as Sepulcro, changing their name to Embrión in '83 and finally to Massacre (or Massakre) in 1985. Pissing Into the Mass Graves was the bands first demo, and is probably the oldest available Chilean thrash recording. It was released in September of 1986 on cassette only. The three tracks featured on the demo are the title track, Pissing into the Mass Grave, Our Everyday Blood and Death Poem. It starts off with an intro of the sound of some poor soul presumably suffering hellish torture before exploding into the title track which is an absolute belter and sounds pretty good here, despite the rough, ie zero, production values. It has an addictive as fuck main riff which is as good as anything the Big Four wrote and rattles along at a breakneck pace. The vocals have a quite annoying echo effect on them, unfortunately, but otherwise are aggressive and harsh-sounding, in common with a lot of South American thrash. The soloing is buried in the production sadly, but from what can be heard it sounds great. I have unfortunately been unable to find a better version of this track which is very sad because it sounds like a rough-hewn deathly thrash diamond.

Our Everyday Blood is more of the same, although the riff is nothing like as memorable as that of the title track and it suffers a bit more because it has even more of the barely audible soloing, which is one of the biggest disappointments of the whole demo because it sounds like vocalist/guitarist Yanko Tolic and fellow guitarist José Miguel Nacrur really let rip on this one. Side two of the cassette is taken up by the almost eight minutes of Death Poem which start off with a chuggy slower riff before exploding into a much pacier affair. The echoing effect on the vocals here, though, is just too much and becomes quite annoying and distracting. Death Poem may suffer from a bit of a case of overbombing with the band chucking pretty much everything at it, but I do like that chuggy riff that keeps making a return at various points throughout the track.

All in all, this is an interesting listen and very early on sets the precedent for Chilean thrash, borrowing from all manner of styles like d-beat, death metal and the black metal of the likes of Hellhammer. It is worth checking out if only for the title track which I think is a thrash classic. The production sucks, but I have heard far worse and if you are used to listening to underground metal demos it shouldn't present too much of a challenge.

3.5/5

Pentagram - Demo #1 (1987)

So, as the title suggests, this is the first proper demo from Santiago's Pentagram who are not to be confused with the legendary US doomsters and, in fact, changed their name to Pentagram Chile in 2012 in deference to the US legends. Despite having only one studio album to their name in 2013's The Malefice, they have been an on and off presence in the Chilean scene for almost forty years now. They were formed in 1985 by guitarist and vocalist Anton "Behemoth" Reisenegger and fellow six-string slinger, Juan Pablo "Azazel" Uribe, both of whom remain in the band to this day. For the demo they were joined on drums by Chronos drummer, Eduardo "Eurynomos" Topelberg with Reisenegger also filling in on bass guitar. Recorded at Nacofon Studios, Santiago in January of 1987, the demo features three tracks, Fatal Prediction, Demoniac Possession and  Spell of the Pentagram with a total runtime of just over fifteen minutes. For a 1980's demo this has pretty good production and is much better than the Massacre demo sound-wise, giving a decent indication of the band's aggressive vitality.

In common with a lot of eighties' South American thrashers, Pentagram took their cues from the Slayer / Possessed school of aggressive thrash that would form the basis of the new genre of death metal. The pace is not quite as relentlessly frantic as Massacre and the songwriting is better with the band exhibiting a greater degree of control over their aggressive tendencies. The riffs are strong and memorable with some nice variation in pacing, although when they let rip, they really unleash hell and I think their aggression is more effective for being so well-controlled. The throbbing, cyclonic riff of closer Spell of the Pentagram is particularly effective and is my favourite on the demo, but they are all terrific. Vocally Anton Reisenegger reminds me a fair bit of early Chuch Schuldiner with his rough and ragged, almost shouted style. The drumming is tight even though it does suffer a bit in the mix and the bass is perfectly audible throughout, as is common with most Chilean thrash. The soloing is OK, but is probably the aspect that most reveals the youthfulness of the band and is one of the few aspects where they could improve significantly.

Simply put, if you are interested in mid-to-late Eighties' thrash and it's metamorphosis into more extreme styles like death metal, then this demo is an absolute must and is one of the best thrash demos you would likely hear. Fans of Slayer, Possessed and Kreator need to check this out.

4.5/5

Necrosis - Kingdom of Hate (1987)

Necrosis were formed in 1985 and featured brothers José Miguel and Andrés Nacrur on guitar and drums respectively. They were both previously members of Massacre (Massakre) and featured on the Pissing into the Mass Grave demo I reviewed previously. The band are another Chilean band with an on/off career, splitting in 1990 after the suicide of then bassist, Alfredo Peña, reforming in 1999 only to split in 2003 due to the perennial "musical differences". They reformed again in 2006 and released three albums before splitting once more in 2017.

Necrosis have much more of a Bay Area sound than both Massacre and Pentagram and sound less extreme as a consequence, coming on more like Exodus or Death Angel. Kingdom of Hate was their first demo, 1500 copies being released in 1987, available on cassette only. The sound quality is very good for a 1980s demo release and sounds very professionally produced, the production on the guitar solos being the only aspect of the production that is really less than stellar, sounding a bit distant at times. The riffing is captured very well, though, and has a nice crunch and depth, whilst the drums and bass are served very well indeed, both being perfectly audible throughout.

Kingdom of Hate contains four tracks with a total runtime of 24 minutes and kicks off with the almost nine minutes of opener, Prayer, which begins with a nice lengthy and classy intro riff, before it gets down to the real business in hand, i.e. thrashing you goddamn ass off! This is a brilliant track that switches from a quicker riff to a slower, chuggier one and back to great effect before encompassing some manic soloing over a supercharged, thrashy blastbeat. Prayer is the kind of longer thrasher that has more progression than a lot of straight-up thrashfests, reminiscent of Metallica's classic-era tracks and is my favourite of the four on display here. Fall in the Last Summer is a track that gets itself into a wicked groove and sounds like a cross between Exodus and Spreading the Disease-era Anthrax and I imagine had Chilean mosh pits heaving. My Fears has a bit of a crossover feel to it, alternating between a throbbing main riff and quicker, punkier breakdowns. The EP closes with the title track which is pretty much a straight-up, no nonsense, Exodus-style thrasher.

Overall, this is a lot more recognisable fare for mid-80s thrash fans, particularly fans of the Bay Area sound and doesn't flirt with extremity and the emerging death metal style as both Massakre and Pentagram did previously, but rather plays it a bit safer. This is still a very good demo and shows that the classic Bay Area sound need not be confined to the US. All four of the tracks available here ended up on Necrosis' debut album, The Search, which was released in the summer of '88 and was their only official release prior to their original split in 1990.

4/5